On a windy April 8, a team of 11 students from the Viterbi School of Engineering prepared to launch a helium balloon into space to capture a photo of the first total solar eclipse in the United States in five years. The team flew to a site just outside of Del Rio, Texas, to launch the balloon in the path of totality, where the moon fully eclipsed the sun. They had approximately four months to prepare for the launch — much shorter than the typical period of one year.
Launching a balloon into space would capture some of the highest-resolution images of the eclipse, as the atmosphere scatters and distorts the light from space for those on Earth’s surface. Because of this, the team had to acquire approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for the launch. Despite the hectic approval and building process, many team members, such as Andrew Lana, the payload team lead and a sophomore majoring in astronautical engineering, said the experience was worth it.
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“That experience was the most stressful hour and a half of my life followed by an hour of just sitting and waiting, and then a couple of minutes of the eclipse was just breathtaking,” Lana said.
The breathtaking sight had not been visible in the U.S. since 2017. The same year, Michael Kezirian, an adjunct professor of astronautics practice, chose the first group of 16 students to take pictures of the solar eclipse from the sky using a helium balloon. This year, with a new cohort of students, the project repeated.
The team built the balloon from latex with a selfie stick attached to camera mounts on its base. They assembled their helium balloon equipped with tracking devices and cameras in Los Angeles but had to disassemble it for transport to the open area near Del Rio where they would be responsible for assembling it again. Kezerian related the balloon construction to the procedure for similar projects done by NASA.
“Most of what I’ve done in the past has been more mechanical, more designing individual components,” Lana said. “This allowed me to take a more systems-side view of the project: managing a wonderful small team for development and payload, managing budgets, and managing mass and power estimates. I have opened up a whole new career path for me in engineering.”
Cameron Coen, a freshman majoring in astronautical engineering, said he felt the experience was unique and taught him about the engineering design process and the importance of being able to pivot.
“You always have to be ready to adapt to any situation that arises,” Coen said.
